Well, no wonder Buffalo Bill preferred the circus life...it was well below freezing point last night. When we woke up the tent roof was had a frozen layer, and most of the campsite was white...brrrrr

Now we understand why there are no showers in these campgrounds...you would freeze to death :-)

Additionally we were the last ones to wake up and manage to get out of our frozen cocoon of a tent. This is one of the reasons why "summer tents" are actually meant for summer, and not for autumn or close to winter! So feeling like "late worms" that happily missed the bird we managed to cook some breakfast (the alcohol refused to light up until we burt half a pack of matches given the altitude and temperature).

Off we went on a tour of Yellowstone and to a geyser basin which was very close to Marcos' surname....Norris Geyser Basin

. The area is named after a Superintendant of Yellowstone that loved to have things named after him. Apparently a good person but slightly egocentric....he requested this area to have his name when he was at his dying bed.

As you can probably see from the photographs, these geysers are well organised, fenced, have wooden paths all along and have plenty of benches to sit and watch the geysers do their stuff...what a difference to Bolivia where they recommended not to get close to the death trap but did nothing to prevent it. We remembered how tourists in Bolivia and Chile were walking all around and a few centimetres from their boiling deaths!

With the geysers we visited today we have hit on over 85% of the geysers world wide...not something we were aiming for, but it just happened (Bolivia, Chile, USA, Iceland).

After an hour hike around the geysers, we continued our drive South and reached another short hike to the Lower Falls. According to the guide book the waterfalls here are twice the height of the Niagara ones, but we couldnt believe it as there wasn't a single casino in sight! How could it be.

So we started on our waterfall height checking mission hike, and little did we know that we had to walk over 250 steps down and 250 steps up again to see the show. But once there, it was well worth the experience. Judge for yourself on the photographs. (However, they could still squeeze a Casino...what a disappointment...so much nature and untouched wilderness. Where is one supposed to buy a greasy burger around here?)

So with the height of this fall confirmed, and surely a spectacle nicer than the Niagara from our point of view, we continued to the last large Geyser to be visited in the park...Old Faithful. This "small" Geyser spurts out boiling water approximately every 90 minutes and is the favourite one of the tourist community.

Check it out on the photographs. Its well worth the visit but given its "touristiness" (hundreds of meters of benches surrounding the geyser, coffee shops, restaurants, gift shops, etc) it took a bit of magic out of it.

Off we continued to the park further down...the Teton National Park. Less crowded than Yellowstone but with the same beauty. Luckily the ticket for Yellowstone applies for Teton also...so $25 well spent.

We checked into a new camping (no showers on site) for $12, used the remaining firewood, had a warm dinner and prepared for a new night with cold temperatures.